Mush ado

As Mediterranean people, we tend to use a lot of tomatoes - fresh, dried, tinned, pulped, or made into a conserve. This is why the companies that produce the processed types try to offer the public special deals in order to increase their market.

One of the latest promotions involved householders being given cold cash for each product available in any household visited. I have no doubt many people will switch brands in the hope that theirs will be one of the homes visited - yet I am disappointed that this company chose, as background music to the radio campaign, Lady Gaga's song Bad Romance. Just because a tune is catchy, and a singer popular, it does not mean she ought to be given additional publicity in this manner.

Of course, popularity is a major factor when determining publicity campaigns. Take the ongoing correspondence about drama in television. Some of the latest (verified) information sent involves the €35 paid for a crash acting course (a 'seminar'), meeting the main actors of the company organising the activity, and a meal. This gives you the opportunity to audition for a role with the company in question - but does not guarantee you will be given one.

I have no problem with people spending their money as they deem fit. If actors are accorded celebrity status by the public to the extent that they will buy signed posters, calendars, and attend red carpet events, so be it.

If actors want to work for free because they respect the producer and director and it's a fun project, it's their choice. The same goes for the hordes of wannabes who turn up for calls for extras.

Those of them who appear in pilots know full well that if the series is not slated for television, there is no chance they will be paid; but those who are 'assured' that the series will air, and then it is not, may go for shooting of the full script and yet never receive a penny.

My beef is with those who, as happens in the singing and modelling worlds, sometimes cheat those who put their trust in them. For instance, I would like to know what provisions are made for keeping in line with health and safety regulations.

Most people may know that on March 31, 1993, during the 52nd day of a 60-day shooting schedule of The Crow, Brandon Lee was killed in a freak accident when a bullet that had been lodged in the forcing cone of a prop was propelled out by the blank cartridge's explosion, hitting him. However, not many know that stuntman Collin Dragsbaek died after falling from a silo onto a faulty airbag during the filming of Shirley Barrett's Love Serenade.

Here in Malta, when accidents happen, not only does the press not get to know (although the rumour mill does grind) - sometimes not even the actors who are not on the set at the time ever get to know the full details.

Incidentally, many of the companies that issue calls for auditions leave the sad excuse for interviews to people who are not au courant with the drama scene in Malta.

The term 'casting agent', which would translate into 'fee', is anathema. So it is not unusual to find a young lady asking a veteran actress in which plays she would have acted before.

• This year, Arani Issa will have wider scope. The medical interventions done will include two hip-replacement operations intended to give the recipients a better quality of life. I may not agree with the 'Ugly Duckling' methodology of series like these, but I cannot help but laud this type of assistance when it is given to people who could otherwise never have afforded it.

Joseph Chetucti and his team will also be filming in London - and more details will be given in good time.

• Local radios were off air yesterday and today between 2 and 9 p.m. because of works being carried out on the main transmitter. But, this being Malta, once-weekly programmes that have a great following will not be broadcast during the night, in lieu of the usual musical interludes. However, one may still access community radios - as well as foreign stations, via internet.

I note that the early morning music on Radju Malta often includes tracks from local artists. Unfortunately, however, whenever a melody, or part of one, is played to cover what would otherwise be dead air, it is always foreign music that is selected.

• If any proof were needed that the word 'crude' is made up of 'crud' and 'rude' - here it is. The American Federal Communications Commission is in lather about a clip from an episode of a series that supposedly drew more than 100,000 complaints, and is considering slapping a $25,000 fine on Fox Television Stations Inc. because of it.

Bizarrely, the scenes mentioned in the indecency complaint lodged by the Parents Television Council do not come from an X-rated film that was aired before the watershed. American Dad is a cartoon series. The footage appeared to show Stan Smith and a stallion involved in an activity with sexual connotations.

It is not clear, however, how many of the adults who complained did so because there were children watching it with them, and whether the sections about which they protested were edited out of the episode when it was relayed on different channels.

Just for the record, there are currently 1.6 million, and counting, indecency complaints from American citizens awaiting attention from the FCC.

television@timesofmalta.com